As of Wednesday, November 30, the situation at the University Hospital of Louis Pasteur (UNLP) in Košice was reported to have normalised vis-a-vis a protest action by doctors in which they were due to leave their positions as of tomorrow. UNLP spokesperson Jaroslava Oravcová said that 221 doctors had withdrawn their resignations, the SITA newswire reported.
“Only 17 notices remain valid and we expect them to be withdrawn soon too,” Oravcová added. On Tuesday, a ban on accepting new patients was lifted and planned surgeries and hospitalisations will now proceed as normal. Hospital director Tomáš Sieber on Wednesday thanked doctors for their decision to continue working. According to hospital sources, doctors started withdrawing their notices partly because management did not use heavy pressure in negotiations, but instead appealed to common sense and logical arguments when talking to the doctors.
Doctors throughout Slovakia have submitted mass resignation notices as a sign of protest. They are seeking higher salaries, a halt to the transformation of hospitals into joint-stock companies, a change to the system of financing health care, and observance of the Labour Code in relation to overtime hours.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
